We think the results are amazing, and they reflect our attitude toward kids: they want to work hard, do well, and have fun. Now that you've bought the book and admired the drawings, we can reveal that Satya was only nineteen years old when he made them. He is now off to art school. Stand by for the sequel, Satya!
This book marks a transition for Nancy. After several decades as a teacher in suburban Chicago (shout out to all her former students from Andrew High School!), she will be writing, speaking, and consulting full-time in districts around the country by the time you read this. Smokey will continue sallying forth from Santa Fe into the same realms; we hope to share a stage as often as possible.
Every idea in every one of our books traces back to kids, to the thousands of students we've been lucky to hang out and learn with over our fortunate years in this profession. Thanks, you guys, every one. Even Daniel and Devin. Especially Daniel and Devin.
Readers, we hope you enjoy this book, and that it helps you get closer to your kids. In these hard teaching times, our only hope is to redouble our commitment to the precious beings we work with every day.
Friendship and support—first, foremost, and always.
Publisher's Acknowledgments
Corwin gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the following reviewers:
Sara Ahmed
Educator, Middle School History
The Bishop's School
La Jolla, CA
Cindy Gagliardi
English Teacher
Chatham High School
Chatham, NJ
Kym Sheehan
Curriculum and Instruction Specialist
Charlotte County Public Schools
Port Charlotte, FL
Jennifer Wheat Townsend
Literacy Specialist
MSD Pike Township
Indianapolis, IN
Chapter I
The Problem and the Opportunity
Social-Emotional Learning and Academic Engagement
Would you like your students to behave? By which we mean:
• Be kind and supportive toward one another? Work productively with partners and in teams?
• Sustain lively and thoughtful discussions in small groups?
• Maintain focus and productivity?
• Help each other dig deep into curricular topics?
• Show classmates respect, not aggression and put-downs?
• Create a classroom climate of curiosity, focus, and fun?
• Get good test scores and be good human beings?
Us, too. Creating supportive classroom communities has been a subtext of seven books we have previously written together. Here, we bring it to the foreground.
Wherever we work in schools (twenty-three states last year) the number one question teachers ask is: “How can I get these kids to work together?” Sometimes, they say this with emphasis on the word these, accompanied by a subtle eye-roll, as in, “You have no idea what I am up against here."
No matter how politely we phrase it, a perennial problem is that our kids don't all get along. They don't work together easily. Too often, they hassle, disrespect, and put each other down. When we place them with partners or in groups, they goof off, waste time, careen off task, or pick on each other. We watch this with rising levels of discomfort, trying to put a lid on the fractiousness, the negativity. After a while, we may feel compelled to abandon our dream of an interactive classroom, push the desks back into rows, and hand out some worksheets, just to calm the kids down. If we get frustrated enough, we'll cast blame upon last year's teachers, or the kids' parents, or their neighborhood. “Maybe next year,” we think to ourselves, “I'll get a class that can collaborate."
But no one is born knowing how to be a good friend, a supportive partner, or a responsible team member. These skills have to be learned. Or, to put it another way, we have to teach this stuff] It's not fair for us to complain about chaos or low morale in our classrooms before we even try to fix it.
Now, we are not completely denying the reality of what we teachers call “good groups" and “bad groups.” Sometimes, the district computer sends us a real doozy of a class list. You start to wonder, are they punishing me for something? But mostly, good groups—classes of kids who work well together—are made, not born. That's one thing that this book is about: taking command of the interactions in our classroom, not being victims of the luck of the draw.
What's Been Missing in School Reform
After decades of academic-based reforms like No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, school people are realizing that we have indeed left something crucial behind. The vital social skills of successful academic work are being neglected in today's classrooms, despite their centrality in college and career readiness. Kids are living in (and leaving) schools without acquiring the habits of effective collaboration with others. They aren't learning how to be respectful, friendly, cooperative, and empathic. They aren't growing as responsible team members, supportive partners, and reliable workers. They aren't practicing the social skills that lead to success in school, college, or anywhere else they might wind up.
Some call this overlooked domain “emotional intelligence," or “soft skills," or “interpersonal skills," or “positive behavior," or even “twenty-first century skills." Under these various banners, school districts across the country have belatedly begun addressing the issues of student emotional states, school climate, “positive behavior interventions and supports,” social skills, and collaboration. A stunningly diverse (and otherwise polarized) assortment of school people and vendors are jumping aboard.
It seems fair to say that we are enjoying a boom in “social-emotional learning,” commonly shorthanded to SEL. This diffuse movement encompasses a wide range of both commercial and nonprofit programs that teach kids how to manage their emotions,
